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The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic threw a wrench into the everyday workings of the pharma supply chain. Seemingly overnight, even the most minor of weaknesses in the system became glaringly obvious, and in some cases threatened the global supply of pharmaceutical supplies.

Although the pharma industry has been largely successful in putting out small fires as and when they arise, calls for a serious reimagining of how supply chains function only heightened as it became clear that Covid-19 wasn’t going away any time soon.

But what could a post-pandemic pharma supply chain look like? In this issue, we take a look at some of the key lessons we learn over the past year and how industry can adapt and innovate in order to prevent a similar situation from arising in the future.

Also, we go behind the scenes of the regulation process to find out exactly what it takes to get a new drug brand name approved, examine the potential of an oral Covid-19 vaccine and learn how drug manufacturers are working to improve access to rare disease treatments in India.

All this and more in this latest issue of Pharma Technology Focus.

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In this issue

What’s in a drug name?
Naming a new medicine – and getting that name approved by the regulator – is far from simple. So, what does it take to ensure a new drug name passes the requirements of scrutineers? Natalie Healey takes a look at the three-step process.
Read the article here.

 

Improving care for rare diseases in India
Rare diseases have emerged all over the world and are especially prevalent in India, where many people find it difficult or impossible to access treatment. Chloe Kent investigates how the situation is unfolding.
Read the article here.

 

Focus on the patient, not the pill
The UK’s MHRA has launched a pilot scheme to make patient involvement a more central part of clinical trials and drug development. Natalie Healey speaks to the regulator about the aims behind the new initiative and what it hopes to do with the evidence it generates.
Read the article here.

 

Academic-industry collaboration: how can licensing and partnerships be made smoother?
Although universities and pharma companies sometimes seem to be working at cross purposes, boosting collaborative and licensing efforts between the two could help bring innovative new treatments to market faster. Abi Millar digs into the importance of academic-industry collaboration, and how this key source of innovation could be better leveraged in the future.
Read the article here.

 

Rewriting the pharma supply chain for a post-pandemic world
Although calls to rethink the structure of the pharma supply chain existed well before Covid-19, the pandemic demonstrated the critical need for resilience and agility in pharma supply chains. Abi Millar examines the lessons that can be learned from this unique experience.
Read the article here.

 

Developing an oral Covid-19 vaccine
Oramed Pharmaceuticals has teamed up with Premas Biotech to develop an oral Covid-19 vaccine, something that could be particularly useful when it comes to rolling out inoculation programmes in resource-limited settings. Chloe Kent speaks to Premas co-founder and director Prabuddha Kundu and Oramed CEO Nadav Kidron about the development of this emerging technology.
Read the article here.

 

Next issue preview

In the next issue of Pharma Technology Focus, we investigate the potential of a malaria vaccine that made headlines earlier this year when a research team from Oxford University announced that it had developed a vaccine candidate that demonstrated 77% effectiveness in early trials. Sticking with vaccines, we take a look at the emerging side-effects of recently approved Covid-19 drugs and the safety of fast-tracked drug approvals.

Elsewhere in the issue, we find out why the use of blood plasma for the production of plasma-derived therapies is controversial in the UK and ask if it is time to rethink the ban, and profile the complex competition considerations that go into reviewing mergers and acquisitions in the pharma industry.

Plus, we examine the challenges that drug manufacturers face in the race to keep up with our changing understanding of mental health and take a look at an intravenous treatment for macular degeneration that could provide practitioners with a way to prevent wounds from scarring. All this, plus the latest insight and analysis from GlobalData.